Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1887-10-23

of great need. / wish Colonel Ingersol
would not vitiste its usefulness by sucf
frequent utteranee.
Mr.. Ingerson has no methods of work
no clockwork system Of rising or toiling
He never makes anything but notes before
his greatest speeches. and these only day
or two preceding. His orations are never
written out until the stenograpber taket
them down during their delivery.
BE is fond Of all games, and Is, so his
wife tells me, an excellent cook. During
one oftheir summer outing he cooked al
the breakfasts, and invited 5eversl friends
to partake Of his delicious omelets and deli
cate tries"
He Is q great Jester. Some Of his jokes
are too subtle for the ordinary mind.
Knowing the proyerbial propensity Of
the street beggar for using aims unworth'
lily, he solemnly cautioned one recently In
this wise: ''Now, don't go and waste this
dime on bread; buy whiskey with it, my
good fellow" The bystander who over.
heard him did not know it was Joke ]
am afraid the beggar did not
Colonel IugersOn does not like the
American custom of interviewing. he
does not like the intrusion Of the public
through the newspapers into mans pri-
yate life.
All those who have suffered from the
Misrepresentation and misconstruction oil
the press can understand how he may have
arrived Mt this state Of feeling.
More powerful than pulpit or college IN
farming public opinion and shaping desti-
MES is the press. Yet while no man can
occupy pulpit or collegiate chair without
proper preparation and credentials, any
man with fingers wherewith to clasp pen
Gil may enter the editorial and reportOrial
field.
Personal dislike or ignoble revenge are
permitted to distOrt the words and malign
the actions of unoffending people. Inefi-
cheney and inattention wait on genius and
misrPprssent its utteranees- Homes are
invaded and characters attacked by ieal-
ous spite or thoughtless ignorance.
Yet we have right to know something
of the,daily life of the men aud women who
set themselves before us as teachers or ad-
yisers. We have right to look into the
private life of the clergyman who tells us
that he can save our souls from perdition,
and if his practice is not harmonious with
his preaching, we have reason to doubt his
protestations.
We have q right to look into the private
lite Of Colonel Ingersoll, who declare that
the humanitarian Is greater than the Chris
tian. If his conduct as husband, father
and citizen is open to criticism, we have
the right to criticise and condemn him as
an intellectual adviser. Fortunately for
him and his cause, his private life is worthy
of all praise and emulation.
He has a nameless air of well-bred en-
nui, while listening to the talk Of other peo-
pie. It is not to be wondered at; our COM
monplaee expressions must seem to this
king Of oratory like the music OF the hand
organ to Beethoven.
Colonel Ingersol said to me the other
evening:
life is railroad train, on which every
passenger knows he must be killed. Maybe
to-day, maybe tomorrow, but somewhere
down the line he must meet his doom.
All! have no use for a world with death
in it," and the jolly face grew sad, the
clear, honest ewes Swallowed with pain as
he spoke.
1 wondered if this great man did not
know that the folly and fallacy of his the
Dries Of future life were expressed in the
words be uttered.
wonder if he does not feel that the
beautiful and holy love which unites his
family is dipiRe, and cannot end with this
world.
There is a pessimistie tone to much he
says of late Is the great agnostic warrior
laying down his arms before the battle is
over?
Fila WHEELER WILCOX.